For years, there has been some debate over helmet use in football. While one side of the fence believes them not to be necessary you have on the far other side those who believe they are not built well enough. We won’t speak for all players, but when it comes to Arena football and kids who play any type of football, it is our humble opinion that helmets are a must.

Here are some questions we have been asked, and our opinion on what the right answer is:

When Should a Child Upgrade to an Adult Helmet?

It really does depend on the size, but you should start checking at around age 12. One of the major differences is in the material used. Children’s helmets are not designed to withstand the force that larger players exert.

How do You Size a Football Helmet?

A football helmet is sized in the same way that motorcycle helmets for children are. Using a cloth measuring tape, measure the circumference of the head at its widest point. Football helmets are sized the same as a motorcycle helmet is, so you can use this measurement if you are also in need of buying your child a motorcycle helmet.

The best helmet on the market will be no match for a large linebacker if it does not fit right. With the chin strap adjusted, there should be no space between the temples and the inner lining of the helmet. You should also ensure that the helmet can not be slid off of the head.

This is provided as a guide only. The best thing you can do to protect yours or your child’s head when playing football is to have them fitted professionally at a sports store which specializes in helmets. There should never be any excuse why a young person enters a football field without the proper head protection.

Hard rock legends KISS bought their first arena football franchise last year, just in time to take part in the 2014 season. The exposure it brought to the sport has helped to solidify Arena Football as a professional game worthy of recognition.

First Take a Look at the Numbers

For their first season, the Los Angeles Kiss kicked butt in terms of dollars. They fell in second place overall for attendance, just behind the popular Tampa Bay. The grand total for home games was 98,505 fans, which averaged out to be almost 11,000 per game.

The numbers for the games were not nearly as good as attendance. The Los Angeles Kiss only won 3 games, making them finish the season at 3-15, and earning them a spot in the championship. This is not unusual for a new team, especially one that has still not secured defensive or offensive coaches. Head coach Bob McMillen ran the team alone last season, and really needs to ask his team of rock star bosses for some help.

Born in Texas, Guiton only started in two of his Ohio games, but caught the eye of many teams for his speed and agility. His youth, fun personality and eternal hint of a five o’clock shadow made him a perfect candidate for the off the wall KISS team. Maybe if Gene and crew buy him a beard trimmer from http://www.beardinstitute.com for that shadow he’ll consider leaving the Bulls behind.

J.J. Raternik

Their second quarterback, J.J. Raternik also seems to be jumping ship for next season. The highly anticipated Las Vegas Outlaws made Raternik, along with Donovan Morgan, the first team members on their 2015 roster. As one of the first professional sports teams to come out of Vegas, this was a smart move for both of these guys professionally.

The Kiss guys better put the guitars down and start getting it together for next season. You can’t play football without a quarterback, just like you can’t rock and roll without a bass. If they have any hope of bringing their game numbers up they need to start getting serious about the sport.

If you are new to Arena Football and trying to find out more information, make a bet, or just play the game for yourself online, you are in luck. As the popularity if the sport has grown, so have the opportunities online to make it a part of your daily life.

If you don’t have the capacity for streaming, you can still get great online coverage from sports enthusiasts who are experts in the game and can give great play by play commentary. Practice this yourself with the microphone you use for your online singing classes and see if you can give that same great commentary. Those headphones and microphone you have for learning how to sing alone can come in handy for a lot of other types of voice projection projects.

Just like with all other major sports, the sports betting world has opened its coffers to Arena Football. Find all the stats you need online and then choose your favorite team to win. It is structured in the same way as typical football, with spreads and winning teams making it easy to learn how to place your bet.

Rosters

There is a world of information online about the teams, their players and their practice and game schedules. Arena Football has made a huge comeback in the last few years, and the number of sites catering to it shows. If you are a die hard fan of one team, you will have no problem in finding out everything you need to now, updated regularly.

If you love the sport of Arena Football, than try and take a more active part in its growth. The more attention it gets now, the more likely it will continue to grow in popularity. In between your online singing classes found over at musicaltraininghq.com, cruise the internet and find new ways to show support for the new best sport.

It is no secret that being a football player takes a great deal of strength and endurance. Triple that when it comes to the more intense arena football. This is a rougher sport than American football is, making being in shape all the more important.

Your typical arena football player needs to work all of his muscle groups and follow a training system like The Muscle Maximizer if he wants his training to be effective. To accomplish this, many have moved to cross fit training, a program used by body builders around the world. Cross fit was originally designed for training of police forces, but has turned into a global – get in shape – sensation.

Before you begin this type of training you will have to make sure you have the right diet to support it. Arena football necessitates strength, which means adding a variety of protein rich foods to the diet. This is done with lean cuts of meat, chicken, and fish. Eggs and tofu are also good sources of muscle building proteins.

As you start to shift your diet, you will naturally begin to lose weight. By filing up on lean proteins, your stomach stays full longer, helping you to avoid unhealthy snack foods. Once you start pairing your proteins with fresh vegetables, the extra fat is going to roll off and you will begin to see trim muscle taking its place.

Body Building Exercises

You may think that the area of focus for an arena football player is the muscles in the arms – for throwing- and the muscles in the legs. This is true to some extent, but it is more complex than this. All of the muscle groups must be worked on together in order to achieve a perfectly physically fit body.

Arm curls, push ups, and pull ups are all good for the arms. The pec deck is great for building shoulder and chest muscles and sit ups are the standard for abs. Legs are able to build muscle with weight lifting exercises.

Don’t forget to work on stamina building exercises as well. The rower or treadmill are good for this, as is a daily jog through the park. An arena football player can’t afford to run out of breath as he is running for the end zone.

Supplements

In recent years, scientists have been finding that a number of natural products are effective at safely helping individuals lose weight and gain muscle. Find one that contains all safe and natural ingredients to help round out your diet for maximum results.

There is such a thing as working out too much, even for an arena football player. Make sure that you are also taking breaks in between your practices and workouts to give your muscles a chance to heal. If not, you can suffer from a debilitating sports injury.

Before beginning any change in diet and exercise, you should consult with your physician. They will advise you on your ideal body weight to give you something to work towards. The important thing to remember is not to over due it, but do it just right to get your body into arena football shape

Parents of football stars don’t get to spend too much time with their kids once the season starts. Between games, practice and the active social life of a high school student, you are lucky to get a five minute conversation in on the drive to school. And that’s assuming they aren’t driving themselves yet.

This is an important point in a teenaged boy’s life and one where you need to try and find ways to keep the lines of communication open. This may mean finding creative ways of one on one time where there is not too much other stuff going on to divert their attention.

Take a Walk

This may sound to easy, but there is nothing wrong with enlisting your son to help you walk the dog. Done right it may even prove to be something they look forward to. Stay clear of friend’s houses and popular hang outs for teens if you want to keep a healthy conversation going without interruption.

The word sport will certainly peak the interest of a MKE Mustang. You just need to find one that encourages talking. Golf is good for this, especially as you walk from hole to hole. Archery, the ancient craft, is also a quiet sport where you will be given many opportunities to initiate a conversation. If they are unfamiliar with shooting a recurve bow and arrow, show even more commitment by buying them a recurve bow for beginners. Then take the time to show how them how to use it. This type of close activity, where you are assisting them with a new challenge helps to re-establish trust in your relationship.

Go Out To Eat

Football players love a good meal. Find a restaurant a bit out of town and ask them to join you for dinner for two. There is plenty of time here, from the drive to the restaurant to waiting for your meal to arrive, to get to know your growing teenager. When you do this, make sure that it is a restaurant that you know he will like, and let the sky be the limit on what he can order.

You are going to find out a lot about your child once you start spending some real quality time with them. Their friends and team mates may be the center of their world right now, but they need to know that they are always the center of yours.

American footballer players have it easy if they want to play a quick game or need to practice. Any large field will do, so long as there are no big trees standing in the way. Arena football players have a rougher time of it. Even though their playing field is slightly smaller, it has the constraints of the sidewalls to keep them from going out of bounds. Something is lost in the strategy of the game when an arena football player suddenly has the freedom to run amok.

You may be able to overcome this by renting out an indoor stadium for your practices. The only problem here is that if it is not already designed for arena football, the turf won’t be right. A sport this rough cannot be played on a typical gym floor, no matter how tough the players think they are.

If an arena football stadium is not available to you and your team to practice, you are going to have to be creative about making one for yourselves.

The Dimensions

An arena football field is the same size as a hockey arena, 200 feet by 85. The end zones need to be 8 yards deep with a 9 foot wide goalpost with a crossbar that sits 15 feet above the ground. This is no easy feet to accomplish, especially when you consider that the whole thing has to be enclosed. But if you are willing to make a few compromises it is doable.

The most difficult aspect is those goalposts. You will most likely have to play that by eye in determining if the ball cleared them or not. Many national parks will have cleared fields of this size, just bring a couple of tape measures and start setting boundaries.

For the Not so Serious Players

For arena football players who just want to toss a ball around and practice plays, any open space will be fine. Many people even have yards that are large enough to make long passes in. The one problem with home practices are pets, especially dogs. Dogs get very excited about this type of play and can easily be tripped over or trampled if you and your fellow team mates are not careful.

If practice at home is going to be a regular event, invest in a a high quality, thoroughly reviewed fence like the petsafe stay and play. These are similar to wireless dog fences but confine your pet to a smaller space. Your dog still gets the thrill of being outside, but with no danger of him running out into the street after a missed catch.

MKE Mustangs Football and turkey, what better way to spend Thanksgiving Day. This occasion is screaming for a tail gate party. Forget about setting your table for Thanksgiving dinner this year and bring your best china to the football field.

Forget burgers and dogs, the MKE Mustang fans have voted and the survey says turkey is the only way to go. After last year’s victory, it’s “Go Big or Go Home” for tailgaters. So how the heck can this be pulled off? Especially if you want all those yummy sides to go with? With a turkey fryer of course.

You can fry your turkey at the game so long as you have an outlet for the turkey fryer. This is not traditional turkey cooking where you can just set it and forget it. Deep frying a turkey is quick, and you will need to periodically adjust the amount of propane you are sending to the burner to adjust for changes in the temperature of the frying oil. Because the turkey will be cooking and will be absorbing the oil’s heat, you will need to turn it down every now and then so the oil does not get too hot.

The sides should be brought from home and heated up on a portable grill. Frying a turkey off the back of your truck is one thing, but mashing potatoes is a whole other story. Make your plans with some of the other MKE Mustang families so that everyone is in charge of just one or two things. Sharing with a big group will ensure that there are no leftovers for you to fight over. Leave that to the award winning guys on the field.

Just as important as the turkey for your tailgate party are the desserts. Make these hand sized to enjoy while watching our guys kick some Thanksgiving day butt. Use cupcake pans to make individual pumpkin and pecan pies. Think of all the bleacher fun you can have with those cans of whipped cream.

The Mustangs had a great season and are getting pumped up to start another. There are a number of creative gifts you can get them for the upcoming holiday season that will show your pride for how well they are doing and help them to make the upcoming season a winning one.

Tickets

Stuff your Mustangs stocking with tickets to a pro football game. This will be a big surprise and give him an opportunity to see how the big boys play. Or get Arena Football tickets if he likes to see how his sport is played in a different style. Don’t forget to add a little pocket money for drinks and dogs. This is a fantastic surprise for a young football player.

Traveling Gear

Even for away games that are only a day trip, your Mustang will need to pack a few essentials. Get him a sturdy duffle bag to pack his gear with a smaller bag for toiletries. Fill that with essentials like deodorant, an electric tooth brush (check out the best ones on www.waterflosserhq.com), toothpaste (we recommend Colgate Total Advanced Deep Clean) and hair brush so that he doesn’t need to worry about bringing stuff from home.

Football

This one may seem like a no-brainer, but what football player wouldn’t love to practice in the yard with a top of the line brand new football. If possible make it a collector’s item by having it signed by a player of his favorite arena or pro team. You might even be able to find one online that has already been signed.

New Gear

There are dozens of items here that you can choose from to get your Mustang decked out in new gear for the season. Cleats, helmet, and pads are all items that they go through fast and need replacing often. Make sure that they are ready to make the championship again by wrapping up brand new football gear for them.

Books

You have to enrich the Mustangs mind too. There are a number of interesting books on their favorite subject that you can stuff their stocking with. This gives them an inspirational read while riding on the bus to away games. Show them how the game has evolved with The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis or give them an inside look at pro football with John Feinstein’s Next Man Up: A Year Behind the Lines in Todays NFL. Whatever you choose, your recipient is going to appreciate learning more about the sport he loves.

Dinner and a Movie

Even a mighty Mustang needs to take a break from time to time. Get him a gift certificate for dinner and a movie to help him unwind with his favorite cheerleader after practice. They don’t get much time to relax, so this type of gift will be especially appreciated.

It really is the thought that counts when it comes to giving a football player gifts for the holidays. By showing that you take their interests and hobbies seriously you prove that they are cared for and valued in your life.

In Friday nights home game, the Wisconsin State Mustangs won their first ever state championship title. The knuckle whitening 48-45 win over the Washington State marks that the end of an amazing season for the state college football team.

This is a proud moment for the Mustangs, as they have gone head to head with some fierce competition this past season and had to play two games in a row without their star running back due to an injury. The knee injury was the result of a near the end zone tackle as he was about to score a touchdown.

The school saw a record number of football related injuries this past year, as almost every player who saw game time also suffered some type of injury. This did not hold the Mustangs back though as this was their most game winning season in the history of football at the college.

The win is bittersweet for the Mustangs coach, who after years with the team has decided to retire his own Mustang jersey and retire from the college after having been an active member of the faculty for the last 35 years. It was his heart attack late last year and continued failing health that brought him to this heart wrenching decision.

Most Mustang fans contribute the teams season success and subsequent championship win with an overwhelming desire to ensure that the beloved coach ends his tenure with the Mustangs on high note.

The championship game just won was not without its share of drama. Washington State had the lead for most of the first quarter, but the Mustangs persevered and scored on 8 of their 9 possessions during the course of the game.

The turning point in the game was a botched Washington State punt that gave the Mustangs the ball on the ten yard line. After only two plays, the ball connected with the Mustangs star running back whose touchdown brought the score to a tie. With this momentum the Mustangs entered the second half of the game running and immediately took the lead with back to back drives.

A passing play was by far the crowning moment in the Mustangs game that had the running back making a 23 yard beeline for the end zone. Avoiding three tackle attempts along the way, this amazing play brought the fans to their feet as they cheered the player straight towards the touchdown.

The entire season was full of surprise passes and long catches, keeping the stands full of fans during the year. The Mustangs delivered in this championship game as well, bringing an amazing football season to an electrifying close.

As the majority of Mustang players this season, including the star running back and quarterback are only sophomores, the school and football fans are hopeful that next year will be just as rewarding as this one is. There is already buzz about some amazing local high school seniors joining next years roster, hopefully with the same championship winning attitude as was shown by this seasons Mustangs.

Take your average football field, cut it in half and put up sideboards. That’s your playing space for arena football, a close cousin to America’s most popular sport. The pace is faster then American Football, the scores higher, and injury imminent, but this exciting game which has been around for over 20 years has been increasing in popularity since its inception.

The legitimacy of Arena Football as a sport has been in question since it was first patented back in 1987. After a short hiatus in 2007, The Arena Football League (AFL) re-hit the artificial grass running in 2010 and hasn’t stopped yet.

The most obvious proof that Arena Football has found its footing is the interest it has received from pop culture celebrities. Rock singer Jon Bon Jovi was the owner of the Philadelphia Soul from 2004 to 2008 while his Motley Crue rival Vince Neil has interest in both the Jacksonville Sharks and Las Vegas Outlaws. Most recently, and with the most fanfare is the 2014 introduction of LA KISS, a Los Angeles based team owned by the iconic rock band KISS.

With every game opened to an electric guitar rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and half naked dancers hanging over the end zones, KISS has found a way to bring the aggressive sport into the mainstream. So much buzz has been created that AMC went ahead and based a reality series on the LA KISS, its eccentric owners, and their dabble into professional sports.

While some may see this as marketing gone awry, the attention to the team shows an overall interest in the sport and brings to light its vast differences from the more sedate American Football. LA KISS brings in an audience by making the sport entertaining to a wide variety of people. This type of marketing scheme will help to propel it forward and protect its future in the sporting industry.

This does not mean that Arena Football is not a legitimate sport. Quite the contrary. There have been a number of AFL players who have gone on to have successful NFL careers. Most well known is Kurt Warner, who spent two years in the AFL before moving on to the NFL where he had an award winning career, including quarterbacking the Rams 1999 season Super Bowl win.

For the 2014 season, both CBS Sports and ESPN have announced a broadcast schedule for AFL games. As interest in the games continues to grow, you can expect other major networks to follow that lead. So long as the league continues to grow and make a profit, its distinction as a professional sport will remain.

It’s the fast pace of the game and the excitement that it garners that is going to continue to propel Arena Football forward. Marketing schemes aside, this is a sport that requires speed and skill, just like any other. And the growing interest in it will continue to increase its popularity.